


Close Your Eyes, Remember Me

by LaDeeDa



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Amnesia, Arranged Marriage, Awkward Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Engagement, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, F/M, Falling In Love, Fantasy, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Heterosexual Sex, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Love, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, Memory Loss, Minor Violence, Multi, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Step-Sibling Incest, Temporary Amnesia, Vampire Bites, Vampire Sex, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2019-11-17 16:30:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18102236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaDeeDa/pseuds/LaDeeDa
Summary: 'Even in the sand-like memories, I can find you in one glance.' ~ Remember Me - Oh My GirlLucia's emotions swing wildly between fury and terror after she is bundled into the back of an expensive car, driven hours from her home and dumped in front of the couple who supposedly bought her, for their son.Elijah Bonnet is a vampire, but more importantly he is the next head of his clan and needs a human wife to give him an heir, as is tradition in the Bonnet family, a woman is bought for the arranged marriage. Lucia is that woman, however, she isn't giving in without a fight.Unfortunately for her, neither is Elijah's adopted sister, who has been coveting the position of 'Mrs Bonnet' her entire life. In an attempt to take Lucia out of the equation she accidentally causes the human severe amnesia instead, and suddenly Elijah finds himself with a second-chance to make his first-impression, minus scary men in suits and a BMW with tinted windows.





	1. Lucia

Lucia fought back, crying out for her mother.

 

“Mama! Mama!” She screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she stretched her arm out to her parents. Her father put his arm round her mother’s shoulders as they watched solemnly. “Help me!” Lucia cried, struggling against the inhumanly strong arms as they dragged her to a black BMW with dark tinted windows. She couldn’t understand why her parents weren’t doing anything, watching silently as these strangers bundled her into the back of their car. As the door slammed she saw, in a fleeting second, a thick wad of cash exchanging hands.

 

A broken sob escaped her throat as she fell back against the leather seats, clamping a hand to her mouth in shock.

 

They had sold her. They knew these people were coming.

 

She was still frozen in a sprawled position when two men swung the front doors open and slid into the car in the blink of an eye. They moved so quickly Lucia had to blink a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. The door beside her burst open and a woman shoved herself in beside Lucia, dislodging the smaller girl and forcing her across fully onto the other side of the car. Lucia snapped out of her daze and twisted her body to reach for the door, jerking at the locked handle multiple times, clawing at it until her fingers burned and she accepted her fate.

 

She sniffed miserably, sitting back in her seat and putting her hand to her mouth again to hide her sobs. The three kidnappers were silent as the car drove smoothly down the road. She sniffed behind her hand, wishing for a tissue. A pale hand reached across her chest and her body went rigid, the hand passed over her to grab the seat belt to her right and pull it across her chest, securing it in the clasp.

 

“Where are you taking me?” Lucia managed to squeak out. The three exchanged glances but she couldn’t read their expressions.

 

“Your parents didn’t tell you anything?” The man in the passenger seat asked, his voice was calm and temperate.

 

“Does it look like they told me anything?” She snapped bitterly, her fear instantly transforming into anger as her defence mechanism finally kicked in.

 

“You were picked to be the bride of the next head of our clan: Mr Elijah Bonnet.”

“Bride?” Lucia murmured, her heart had stopped in her chest.

“You were put forward as a candidate by your parents and picked by Mr Bonnet’s father.” The woman clarified, “We were sent to collect you, pay your parents and bring you back to his home safely, please don’t feel afraid, we have no reason to hurt you.” Lucia didn’t care about their stupid attempts to calm her, she wasn’t a child, but she did want to know more about the Bonnets.

 

“What the hell is a clan?” She grumbled. “What is it? A secret club?” The three exchanged looks via the rear-view mirror.

 

“A vampire clan.” The man in the passenger seat said carefully. Lucia rolled her eyes and groaned but he continued, “I know you may not believe this now but it’s the truth, vampires exist and we form clans - like a family but a bit more business-like.” Lucia nodded with her face screwed up sarcastically and decided to change the subject, there was no point trying to argue with morons. If they wanted to believe they were part of a secret organisation run by mythical creatures, that was their problem.

 

“How much did they get?” She managed, even though the little smart Lucia that lived inside of her head was screaming that she didn’t want to know, it wouldn’t help to know, it would only rub salt into an already gaping wound.

 

“Your parents?”

 

“How much did they make off me?”

 

“Five thousand deposit, twenty thousand on collection and they will receive a further twenty-five thousand upon your impregnation.”

 

“My…” Lucia’s mouth hung open, the shock wiping her brain of all thoughts. “My impregnation?” The car was deadly silent, a feeling of tight, coiled tension taking hold of Lucia’s body. Sobs worked their way up her oesophagus until she was hysterical, broken cries bursting from her in uncontainable horror and denial. Every person in the car averted their eyes, whether because they didn’t know what to do or didn’t care she didn’t know. But she cried and cried and cried until her eyes were so swollen she could barely see. It didn’t matter, she thought, she wouldn’t know how to escape if she could see where she was escaping from.

 

So she cried, and cried some more.

 

She worked herself up crying until she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. They slid shut but her body continued to shake with her ragged breathing and the occasional broken sob. She drifted in and out of sleep as the car rocked, driving through the night.

 

-

 

Lucia woke slowly and sorely, her eyes and nose burning, her head pounding, her muscles aching. She stretched her back, pulling herself up straight with a series of clicks and pops that she noticed the woman beside her wincing at from the corner of her eye. Her head was still groggy and she blinked excessively to bring her vision back to focus. It was hard to tell how long she had been asleep with the tinted windows but she had to assume at least a few hours since she was both thirsty and in need of a bathroom break. She announced this to the car but no one responded.

 

“That’s fine, give it an hour and this expensive-ass looking leather seat will need some serious scrubbing.”

 

“That’s fine, only twenty minutes until we arrive at the Bonnet Mansion.”

 

“Great.” Lucia grunted through gritted teeth. After what couldn’t have been more than ten minutes they took a sudden jerking turn up to a break in a long row of tall hedges and paused in front of an intricate metal gate, the man in the passenger seat pulled out a small fob with two buttons and pressed the top one, the gates began to creak open slowly and the car inched through and followed up a paved drive-way round to a enormous building, at least three storeys with a wrap-around porch leading down to an expansive lawn lined with trees of all types, shapes and sizes. They halted halfway up the drive, near the front of the house and all three kidnappers leaped out with that same super speed. Lucia refused to follow, leaning back and crossing her arms sulkily. Her door opened and she gave the man waiting there an angry squint. He ducked in, grabbed her and lifted her out as though she were a bag of popcorn. Okay, maybe this vampire thing wasn’t so crazy. She decided to roll with it for the moment - no harm in being cautious. Her feet were dropped down onto the paving stones gently and two people each took one of her arms tightly.

 

She was frogmarched to the front doors, the three ‘vampires’ watching her carefully from either side and one from behind, one of the doors opened as they arrived in front of it and another man in a suit gave them a nod before ushering them inside. They stopped again once the doors were closed, a grand entrance hall stood before them with rooms connecting directly to the left and right of the front doors and an enormous staircase leading up to a landing that disappeared in three directions. There were paintings hanging from most of the walls, hand-painted vases and intricate sculptures sitting inside glass cases, fresh blooms decorating every side table, and an enormous crystal chandelier hanging above the centre of the wide stairs. It should have looked crowded and over-the-top but the room was so big that it almost looked sparse. Lucia let her eyes take in the room slowly, unsure of what to look at first, she was very aware of the team that had escorted her watching her closely and she tried to ignore it as best she could. The new man that had opened the door for them spoke in a soft tone,

 

"Do you have any personal belongings I can take to your room, Ma'am?" he asked. She snapped her head to give him a merciless glare.

 

"Does it look like I have any personal belongings?"

 

"No, Ma'am." He answered politely.

 

"I wasn't exactly given a chance to pack, thing one and thing two couldn't stuff me in a sack quick enough." She turned to jerk her thumb at the three flanking her.

 

"We had assumed you would already be aware of the situation." Huffed the man on her left. "When you started swinging we had to move quickly to secure you without garnering unwanted attention from outsiders."

 

"You didn't take that as a sign that maybe I didn't want to be kidnapped?"

 

"We are just doing our jobs." The second man defended, his expression bored.

 

"Your job is cradle robbing?" She asked incredulously.

 

"It's not 'robbing' if we paid for you, which we did," Thing one countered, "and you are hardly young enough to fit in a cradle." he gave her an exaggerated look from head to toes.

 

"So, slave trafficking." Lucia drawled.

 

"You are not a slave." Thing two interjected.

 

"I don't know that, you might be planning to eat me for all I know!" The female vampire wrinkled her nose in distaste.

 

"Maybe I should take you to get settled in?" She offered. Lucia huffed but nodded, she couldn't fight them so she didn't see the point in resisting. "Why don't you two inform Mr and Mrs Bonnet that she has arrived?" The men gave small grunts of agreement and left. The woman nodded for her to follow and began to plod up the stairs, trying to match Lucia's slow, human pace.

 

She didn't give much of a tour as she led her through the large house, a lot of it looked pretty similar except the artwork changing, she would have to use that to memorise her way around.

 

The woman stopped at a lonely door, sitting by itself, and pushed it open to reveal a large but very empty room. Lucia stepped in and looked around, against the back wall sat a four poster bed with white drapes and sheets but other than that there wasn't really anything else in the room, a door led it from the side to a small bathroom but even that was devoid of any home touches or furnishings. It wasn't hideous, there were large windows that lit up the room and everything looked clean, but it wasn't home. She walked to the bed and sat on the edge, resting her face in her hands.

 

"Are you tired, Ma'am?" Lucia glanced over to the woman but said nothing, her sour expression layered on thick. "Or maybe hungry?" That Lucia had to agree with, she nodded grumpily and the vampire looked relieved at having found something to do with herself. "I'll fetch you something, Mrs Bonnet ordered food from an online supermarket, I can't remember the name but I can find out, so we have lots of bread, meat and fruit in the kitchen." Lucia wondered why this woman was so oddly specific but then figured it must have been a while since she had eaten solid foods, maybe she had never used the internet to order food.

 

"How long have you been a vampire?" She asked. The woman seemed to instantly brighten at being handed a topic she knew well to talk about.

 

"Ooh... It must be pushing twenty-five years!" She announced, almost proudly, with a flap of her hand.

 

"How old were you at the time?"

 

"Are you trying to work out my age?” The woman winked one of her exceptionally long eyelashes at her. “Cheeky!" Lucia was actually struggling to fight a small smile, those things were infectious, you know! She decided to continue to play coy though.

 

"I just can't place your age at all, you look young but..." She shrugged.

 

"Like I've seen some shit?"

 

"Yeah, I guess."

 

"I was thirty-four when I was turned but I don't look like I did then, vampirism does freeze your body but not your soul, you end up looking like a very tired young person for the rest of your life!" Lucia nodded thoughtfully before asking her next question.

 

"Why were you turned?" She didn't know if that was rude to ask but the woman didn't seem fazed by the question at all, she had probably told the story a thousand times.

 

"Well, I had been in a car accident and was in a coma, I wasn't coming back from that so one of Mr Bonnet's associates snuck into the hospital and started the process - he bit me - he stayed by my side to ward off doctors and nurses and when I woke up, he took me away with him. I was recruited into the clan and have been here ever since." Lucia frowned, something seemed strange.

 

"But did you ask them to turn you?"

 

"How could I, dear?” The woman laughed like her question was mind-blowingly ridiculous. “I was in a coma!"

 

"So, they didn't give you a choice?" Lucia clarified. Coma or not, a stranger laying their teeth into your neck without permission screamed creeper. But then, a lot of things about the ‘Bonnet Clan’ screamed creeper. The woman was visibly confused by Lucia’s persistence.

 

"They saved me." She stated slowly.

 

"Against your will."

 

"How can you be saved against your will?" She laughed again, although this time it had just a hint of mania to it.

 

"It just doesn't sound right... I feel like you should have had your next of kin sign you up for this…” She motioned in the air with her hands, trying to put together a coherent sentence. “Like a premium package or something..."

 

"Death Diamond Package?"

 

"Exactly."

 

"Well, I'm grateful that I was saved, I like living." She shrugged, "Now, do you have any special requests or shall I just bring whatever I find?"

 

"I would kill for some Doritos right now." Lucia groaned.

 

"Please don't commit murder in your room, everything is cream!"

 

"Don't worry, I'll save my homicidal tendencies for the garden." She said, unsure if she was playing along or feeling genuinely snarky - it was hard to be mean to someone who seemed to be genuinely trying to make you comfortable.

 

"Much appreciated." The woman left, closing the door gently behind her, and Lucia pulled her shoes off, climbed under the covers and curled up into a ball to hide from everything. Her emotions had been yoyo-ing all day and it had sucked every ounce of energy from her body trying to keep up.

 

-

 

A visitor woke her some time later with loud thumping on the door, she groaned, pulling herself from the bed and dragged herself past the pile of heart-attack-inducing snacks the previous woman had apparently slipped in for her while she napped. She flung open the door and came face-to-face with one of the men from the car.

 

“Follow me.” Was all he said before striding away. She pulled a face at his back but did as she was told.

 

Lucia felt as though she were being led to her execution as she followed silently. When they reached their destination he rapped on the door with his knuckles and waited.

 

"Come in." A deep voice called. The man opened the door and gave Lucia a not-so-gentle shove into the room.

 

In the middle of the room was a large wooden desk scattered with papers, files and stationery, behind it sat a pale and broad-shouldered man with green eyes, curly black hair and a kind face. Beside him stood a woman with less meat on her than a Mcnugget, she also had green eyes but her hair was a dark chestnut colour and it hung straight and limp in curtains either side of her pinched face. Lucia could only assume these were her future in-laws despite the woman’s body appearing so young.

 

They both took her in silently at first, then the woman snapped, "Arthur!" looking at Mr Bonnet accusingly. "What were you thinking?" Lucia sighed with relief, finally someone was thinking straight - an arranged marriage? Ludicrous. "She's far too dark!" Oh. Lucia raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

 

"Does that really m-"

 

"Yes!" Mrs Bonnet snapped, "Of course it matters! My grandchildren should look like me! Your family has always picked matches that fit the look of the Bonnets for a reason!"

 

"She's got the black curly hair."

 

"Because she's- she's-" Don't say Mexican, Lucia thought, if one more old, white lady assumes I'm Mexican... Mrs Bonnet continued to struggle with finding whatever word she was looking for.

 

"Latina?" Lucia offered, her voice hard. Mrs Bonnet glared at her,

 

"Get a different one."

 

"We've already paid for her."

 

"WE didn't do anything! YOU brought her here and YOU paid for her!"

 

"It's done." Mr Bonnet spoke with authority and his wife stopped arguing, although that didn't stop her stink face that she was aiming at Lucia.

 

"My son is working at the moment but I'm sure he will be happy to meet you," Mr Bonnet picked up his phone, "I will call him over now for a quick introduction." he tapped a couple of times on the screen and put it to his ear. "Hello, yes, she's here, yes, okay, see you in a moment, bye." As he placed the phone back down on his desk there was a knock at the door. Lucia blinked and looked over her shoulder, "Come in, Elijah." Mr bonnet called. Elijah? She thought, he can't have got there that quickly, it wasn't possible.

 

The door opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man stepped into the room. Lucia understood what Mrs Bonnet had meant when she said the Bonnets had a 'look', Elijah had the same teal eyes and dark hair as his parents but cut into an undercut with the curls on top longer. Lucia had been hoping he would be hideous, at least then she could make fun of him for it, but he was annoyingly handsome with a strong jawline, straight nose and not a single blemish on his pale skin.

 

"Good afternoon." He started to give Lucia a small smile but it was quickly stifled by her furious face. There was an awkward silence as he seemed to be waiting for her to reply, but she continued to stare him down angrily. "Have I managed to make a bad impression already?" He asked, trying to mask his annoyance.

 

"Forgive me, your Lordship, for not being too fucking flattered at having been tossed into the back of a car, dragged miles from my home, dropped into a stranger's house and then accused, by your mother, of being 'too dark'." Her fists were clenched and her teeth gritted, she could barely contain the fury that had ignited inside of her. Elijah listened to her rant with a look of indifference on his face, when she was finished he gave a soft sigh and simply said,

 

"Right, lovely to meet you too, dear." and turned and left, disappearing quickly down the corridor. Lucia turned back to Mr and Mrs Bonnet, giving her best ‘I don’t care, fuck you’ face.

 

“Well, that went well.” Mr Bonnet held a tight smile as he turned his head to look at the man who had brought her in, “I think we are finished here, if you could take her back to her room, please.” the man at her side nodded and stepped out, nodding Lucia out with him.

 

She followed with an exaggerated sigh, making sure her eye-roll was visible to everyone within a five-mile radius.


	2. Lucia

Lucia paced her room for hours, creating a ring of compressed carpet, she hadn't eaten since she had been unceremoniously dumped back there after the awkward meeting with the Bonnets and had proceeded to inhale a bag of Doritos that could be used as a child’s sleeping bag... She was getting hungry and was beyond thirsty... She was also incredibly bored. Eventually, she couldn't take it any more, she stomped to the door and smacked her fist down on the wood three times,

 

"Hey!" she yelled, "I need water and food, I'm not dying on the floor of some middle-aged woman's fantasy guest-room!" she hit the door again, "If you don't unlock this door I'm breaking the window and throwing myself out of it, your choice!" she stood still for a moment, breathing deeply, when a voice called through from the other side.

 

"Uuuh… who is in there?" It asked.

 

"The bride-to-be, fuckface!"

 

"Easy, kid." She was pretty certain it was a woman, and that said woman found her amusing. "Just making sure you're not a burglar... Why are you in there?" 

 

"Two idiots locked me in!" Lucia snapped, she pressed her forehead against the wood tiredly.

 

"Oh." Was all the woman on the other side had to say.

 

"Who are you?" Lucia softened her voice as her feeling of alarm began to slowly fade.

 

"I'm Sariyah,” The woman called through, “cousin of the groom-to-be." that had her hackles back up again, no one in this family could be good news.

 

"Can you get me out of here?" She asked bluntly, not expecting a positive outcome but she had to try.

 

"Sure, I can kick the door down?"

 

Lucia blinked, utterly unable to believe her luck. "That would be very much appreciated." She managed to call through.

 

"Okay, stand back." Lucia scuttled back to the bed and plopped her butt on the edge. With one loud, splintering crash the door was kicked through with one hit, sending pieces of wood scattering across the carpet. A vampire then, she guessed. The hinges and a sliver of wood attached to them remained.

 

Her saviour strode in with the relaxed air of a cat strutting around its home, she had been right about her being a woman but every other assumption she had made in her head of how she would look was instantly proved wrong, this woman was nothing like her ‘family’. Sariyah was petite in length and width, her features were rounded from her eyes to her lips, and her skin was black, dark-skinned black.

 

"Oh, you don't look how I thought you would." Sariyah mused.

 

Lucia almost choked on her own tongue as she sputtered out,"Right back at ya." there was no way this woman was a Bonnet. She gave the woman a head to toe once-over with her eyes.

 

"I'm his cousin by marriage." Sariyah explained. “I married his cousin Reginald, I’m assuming you haven’t met him yet - he tends to hide himself away with his canvases and books.”

 

"No offence,” Lucia began, knowing full-well what she was about to say would probably offend. “but I can't believe they let you marry into the family but apparently I'm too dark!" Sariyah snorted loudly.

 

"Did his mother say that?” She laughed, “She's obsessed with carrying on the bloodline - keeping it pure!" she shook her head, "His father is head of the clan so his son must carry on the tradition of having a child and furthering the family line, my husband wasn't pressured to do that and so we chose not to."

 

"Do you not want children?"

 

"We might adopt one day, if we decide that's what we want to do." She smiled wistfully and nodded at the door, “You coming or what?” she climbed through the hole she had created.

 

“Fair enough.” Lucia shrugged, following her out without hesitation. “Wish Elijah had that option.”

 

“Yeah, me too.” Lucia looked at her curiously. “He’s a good guy,” Sariyah clarified, “I wish he could live

 his life the way he wants.” she explained.

 

“He can’t be that great if he would agree to an arranged marriage, especially to someone who doesn’t want to marry him.”

 

“Well, they usually bring in a more willing candidate.” Sariyah looked her up and down with an amused expression “You know, the kind that see it as an honour to marry into such an ancient and powerful family, like being picked to be queen.”

 

“I would feel a lot more honoured if they had treated me more like a queen.” Lucia joked, although there was still bite in her words.

 

Sariyah laughed quietly, “Yes, I did hear you put up a bit of fight when they attempted to transport you here.” she strutted down the hallway and Lucia trotted along beside her.

 

“A bit?” Lucia huffed, “ I was giving everything I had!”

 

“I’m sure it would have had a far greater affect had it been you versus three humans,” She gave a gentle nudge to her side. “as it is I’m sure those three have never had such a struggle from a human before so congrats for, at the very least, making those simpletons’ lives harder.” 

 

Lucia’s ears perked up, “You’re not a fan of them either?” 

 

“Nope, but then I don’t like an awful lot of the clan that aren’t either blood relatives or married into the family, I never feel like I can fully trust them…”

 

“Trust them?” Lucia frowned, “You’re worried they might hurt you?”

 

“Not me,” She shook her head with a sad smile, “one of the main family, or all of them, there are many who would like to take Arthur’s place as head of the clan.” They turned into a room filled with plush red and gold furniture.

 

“Interesting.” Said Lucia. “So does that mean when I marry him, I’ll be in danger?” 

 

“You’re already in danger, there are plenty of women who would love to be in your position!”

 

“Well, they can bloody well have him!”

 

Sariyah laughed heartily and dropped into one of the arm chairs organised around a low coffee table, “You really haven’t warmed up to him even a little?” she asked incredulously.

 

Lucia followed suit and huffed, “I’ve barely see him, how can I warm up to him?” the chair was soft and bouncy and she allowed herself to relax into it, letting her muscles release all their tension with a deep breath.

 

“I get that, I have told him you two should spend more time together if he wants to bridge the gap between you but he seems to have gotten the impression, don’t ask me how, that perhaps you have already decided you don’t like him.” Sariyah said sweetly, giving an amused raise of her eyebrows.

 

“That impression would be correct.”

 

“Well, if you would be willing to take some advice, I’d tell you to give him a second chance - I think he’s pretty great.”

 

“Mmm.” Was all Lucia was willing to give her. Sariyah shook her head but let the subject drop.

 

They continued to discuss the basic ins and outs of their lives until her stomach began to growl in protest and Sariyah smacked her palms down on the arms of her seat and stood.

 

“Food time?” She asked. Lucia laughed awkwardly.

 

“Yeah, sometimes being human sucks.”

 

“I can’t think of anything about being human that doesn’t suck.” Sariyah snorted. “You have so many neeeeeeds.” She groaned, although her grin was still in place.

 

“I guess.” Lucia hopped up too.

 

“Let me show you the kitchen, it probably won’t have anything edible in it but at least you’ll know where to find a big-arse knife in the future.”

 

“It’s only been an hour and you already get me.” Lucia wiped away a fake tear and the pair marched away in search of food… or knives… preferably both.

 

~

 

The kitchen, predictably, had not a scrap of food present. Sariyah pulled out her phone and ordered enough pizza for a football team while Lucia drank a pint of water in one gulp and the proceeded to rifle through the cupboards, generally being nosey and making a mess. They hung out while they waited for the food to arrive and Lucia couldn’t help but find it a little spooky how quiet things were in the house when she knew there had to be a large number of people living there.

 

“So how many people actually live here?”

 

“On the land or in the house?”

 

“Tell me both.”

 

“In the house you’ve got,” she began to count on her fingers, mouthing numbers. “twelve or thirteen depending on whether or not Carlos is out on an assignment. The main Bonnet family is only five people, plus my husband and I and then another six members of the clan who are either guards or aides to Mr Bonnet. On the land there are around two hundred vampires living in various houses and bungalows, essentially everyone in the clan who isn’t in the inner circle lives somewhere on the hundred-and-something acres of land.”

 

“Hmm, interesting.” Lucia filed the information away for later. She would need to know everything if she was to make her grand escape a reality…

 

The doorbell rang and Sariyah vanished, reappearing with a stack of boxes in her hands, almost high enough to block her vision. She dumped them on the counters, opening all the boxes and spreading them out.

 

“Et voila!” She announced with a flourish.

 

Lucia tucked in, eating slices from different boxes, mixing and matching flavours and toppings until she was comfortably full, then she kept nibbling until she was uncomfortable. Eventually she had to give in, it wasn’t physically possible to eat all the pizza in one sitting… she would have to come back for round two. She dusted off her hands with far more flair than was necessary.

 

“Finished?” Sariyah asked.

 

“Yep, we should probably put the leftovers all in one box and put it in the fridge.”

 

“Will do.” And she did, with lightning speed.

 

“Cool, so what now?”

 

“Right, time for a tour of the house - Sariyah style! Which means skipping all the boring shit and annoying as many family members as possible!”

 

“Sounds perfect.” Lucia grinned.

 

~

 

They decided to skip Mr and Mrs Bonnet, since he was probably busy and she would have nothing nice to say anyway, and visited some of the more interesting rooms filled with art, exotic flowers and odd furniture instead. Once they had seen enough still life paintings of fruit, they headed to the library.

 

It was like something out of a period drama, floor to ceiling bookshelves, long wooden tables with lamps lit in the centre and benches either side, plush carpets and a couple of armchairs dotted around. Sat at one of the tables was a woman, her face hidden beneath her straight, dark brown hair as she scoured over one of many books she had piled around her, scribbling notes into a pad beside her without looking at it.

 

“That’s Alyssa.” Sariyah whispered into Lucia’s ear. “She’s Elijah’s adopted sister.”

 

“Can I help you with something?” Alyssa growled, lifting her head to glare at the pair. With her face visible Lucia could see she had the typical Bonnet green eyes and milky skin.

 

“Can I help __you__ with something?” She snorted, what was this woman’s problem? “Maybe a chill pill?”

 

“Maybe you should fuck off.” The woman snapped her book closed, pushed her chair back, scraping it loudly against the floor, and stomped away. Her body was thin and lanky but she still had the graceful movements that Lucia had come to associate with vampires, her body was strong even f it didn’t look it. The book under her arm had the title 'The Bourn Hall Guide to Clinical and Laboratory Practice', but that didn't help her discern anything specific about her interests. Lucia couldn’t be sure but she thought she heard the woman mutter ‘breeder’ under her breath.

 

“Okay, so that’s all you need to know about Alyssa.” Sariyah muttered and took her by the shoulders to steer her back out of the library.

 

“I feel like there’s a hell of a lot more I need to know about her,” Lucia giggled. “starting with who got her panties in a twist.” They continued down the corridor, walking in time with each other.

 

“I don’t know,” Sariyah’s smile was both apologetic and amused. “she’s kind of anti-social, she only spends time with her direct family: Mr and Mrs Bonnet, Eden and Elijah, the rest of us aren’t deemed worthy of her time.” She rolled her eyes and hip-bumped Lucia.

 

“She always hiding out in the library?”

 

“Yeah, she’s researching something - well, she has been for years, I don’t know how she hasn’t given up looking for whatever answer it is she wants, she has spent more money on books and medical journals in the last few years than I have on clothes and shoes in my entire life.”

 

“Researching what?” Lucia instantly felt suspicious, that was some cult nonsense right there. She wasn’t going to be the minority that never gets out of the movie alive.

 

“Not sure,” Sariyah shrugged. “definitely don’t care.”

 

“Cool.” It was not cool. Now she had images in her head of creepy doctors and medical experimentation. Alyssa was already hostile, she didn’t need any tools or drugs.

 

“Let’s go meet Elijah’s biological sister,” Sariyah suggested, pulling her out of her thoughts. “she is a better representation of the Bonnet females than you’ve seen so far.”

 

“Aren’t you a Bonnet female?”

 

“By marriage.” Sariyah rebutted with a wink. “You’ll be one too soon!” She added cheerfully.

 

“Bugger off.” Lucia grunted. “Now tell me about his sister.”

 

“Eden, she’s his younger sister, looks just like a younger version of their mother-”

 

“Ouch.” Lucia pulled a face.

 

“But prettier, you know how when someone has a bad attitude it makes them ugly? It’s the opposite with Eden, she’s a cutie inside and out.”

 

~

 

“Edeeeen.” Sariyah called sweetly.

 

“Yeeeeesss?” A sing-song voice replied from the other side of the door.

 

“She’s probably working on something.” Sariyah explained as she pushed into the room. Lucia understood instantly what she meant as they entered, the long rectangular room was crammed full with half-finished white marble sculptures on pedestals, dresses on dummies and pieces of jewellery scattered over stools and tables. Tools littered the floor and surfaces: pliers, chisels, blowtorches, sewing needles, safety pins. The room had a ladder that led into a loft conversion where a woman hung over the edge, letting her arms dangle down and her chin rest on the very corner of the wood. She had an easy, laid-back grin that felt refreshing just to view it, even though it was directed at Sariyah rather than her.

 

“Good evening, my love.” She greeted, allowing her head to loll along the edge to take in Lucia. “I smell a human.” Her lazy grin was still present, clearly teasing. Having met her mother already, Eden looked a little strange to Lucia, she had the same thin face and straight nut-brown hair but there was so much more life in her, her green eyes shimmered with excitement, her long hair loose and wild around her. “You must be my new sister-in-law.” She pushed herself up and leapt down, gracefully hopping along tables to reach them at the entrance to the room. When she landed in front of them she gave Sariyah a hug which the other woman happily returned. “You don’t visit enough.” Eden accused lightly.

 

“You could always try leaving this room once in a full moon?”

 

“No, thank you!” Eden turned away and reached her hands out to Lucia. She hesitated for a moment, this woman was a stranger, daughter of the creepy couple who had paid money to have her kidnapped, but if Sariyah trusted her… Maybe she was okay… maybe. She gave a small smile and put her own arms out, allowing Eden to give her a crushing hug.

 

“Eden, this is Lucia - Elijah’s fiance!” Lucia bristled a little at the ‘f’ word but kept her face in check when Eden pulled back with her full-beam smile aimed right at her, it was a little disorientating.

 

“It’s lovely to meet you, my love.” Eden kissed both her cheeks lightly and released her. Lucia blinked, blushed and looked away, taking in the chaos of the room around her.

 

“Is Elijah’s room… like this?” She asked.

 

Both women laughed heartily, “Absolutely not.” said Eden.

 

“I see it this way: Eden has outward intelligence, Elijah has inward intelligence.” Sariyah added.

 

Eden hummed, “I’m a messy learner, he’s a neat learner.” she offered.

 

“He sounds boring.” Lucia grumbled.

 

“Yeah, he can seem that way.” Said Eden. “But when he eventually lets you in, you’ll see he’s just a giant dork.”

 

“You’re not exactly selling him here.” Lucia snorted. “But then, I guess I’m the one who was sold so I can’t talk.” Both women had the grace to look embarrassed. “Whatever, my family made more money in that five minutes I was being stuffed into a car than they have their entire working careers to date, I hope it was worth it.” She shrugged awkwardly and thankfully Sariyah cut in to keep them moving,

 

“And with that, I think we should move on with the tour and let Eden finish whatever monstrosity she’s currently working on.”

 

“You should know by now that I never finish anything!” Eden laughed. “But I’m glad you dropped by, it was lovely to meet the newest member of the family. I hope we can become good friends, Lucia.”

 

“Thanks, it was nice to meet you.” Lucia said nothing about ‘family’ or the arranged marriage, it didn’t feel right to argue the situation out with this sweet woman, it wasn’t her fault.

 

“Next we’ll pop in with my other half and then we’ll see if Elijah is around to pester.”

 

“That’s okay, I feel like just your husband will be enough and then I’m ready for bed.”

 

“Then we’ll go see Elijah first and you can meet Reggie tomorrow.” Lucia groaned pitifully but allowed herself to be lead away and up to the other end of the house.

 

~

 

Sariyah knocked a funky tune onto the door she claimed led into Elijah’s living quarters. Lucia didn’t have time to breathe before the door opened and her arranged husband was peering down at her.

 

“Elijah!” Sariyah’s grin was a little too wide as she ushered Lucia in, forcing Elijah back into the room. Lucia dug her heels in but the other woman’s super-strength forced her forward. “I was just giving Lucia the tour of her new home-” Lucia’s expression turned venomous, she had no intentions of pretending to Mr Bonnet that she agreed with any of this nonsense. “and with that came a tour of the family!”

 

“And you know,” Lucia growled, “I still haven’t met your husband, I would love to be introduced to… Reginald, wasn’t it?” she tried to turn away but Sariyah clamped her hands down onto her shoulders, her tight smile still held in place.

 

“Plenty of time, dear.” She cooed. Lucia had to resist rolling her eyes, instead glancing round the room curiously. What? She was allowed to know what he was like! You can learn a lot about a person from how they live. From what Lucia could see, Elijah lived like a robot. His room had the same layout as Eden’s (with the other half of the loft conversion) but with maybe a third of the amount of belongings, half of which were books, lined immaculately on wooden book shelves lining the walls. A desk sat perfectly in the centre of the room facing the large bay window with a seat decorated with plain white pillows built underneath. If Lucia had been told she was taking a peek into a showroom from a home wares store she would have had no trouble believing it, nothing looked touched. “Elijah, what have you been up to today?” Sariyah’s question drew her attention back to the man ahead of her. He closed the door and walked to his desk, leaning against it.

 

“The same things I do most days, filling out paperwork, helping my father make decisions, mediating petty arguments, studying and more paperwork.”

 

“Aren’t you a bit old to be studying?” Lucia asked sharply.

 

“Not at all, it’s never too late to get your third degree.” He seemed utterly serious so she decided to change the subject.

 

“Why do you have to do so much paperwork?”

 

“We have to make a lot of money to keep the clan comfortable,” He nodded to his desk where there were three small piles of papers laid out immaculately and a laptop sat adjacent to them, everything was perfectly lined up and central. “that takes a lot of work which often involves a lot of paperwork.”

 

“Sounds incredibly boring.” She looked away, his expression had just a tint of melancholy and it hurt to see - what did he have to be sad about? He was in his own home, with his own family.

 

“It is.”

 

“Great!” Sariyah jumped in, she was good at that. “Well, I think it’s time we go see how much mess my husband has managed to make in the four hours since I last checked in on him.” She took Lucia by the shoulders again and turned her around, leading her out.

 

“Bye Elijah!” She called over her shoulder.

 

“Goodbye Sariyah, goodbye Lucia.” His voice was soft but she heard it, and she felt a strange squeezing in her tummy when he said her name.

 

~

 

Reginald Bonnet was exactly how Sariyah had described him: a walking tornado of paint, pastels, clay and ink. Even under his coating of mixed media, Lucia could tell that he also didn’t quite fit the ‘Bonnet look’, his hair was blonde and scraggly rather than black and curly, his eyes a warm brown rather than green and his features plain and unremarkable - if it weren’t for his brightly blotched clothes and skin, he was the type of man you could easily walk past and never look directly at. He had a pair of thick glasses sat askew on his nose that only added to his look of bewilderment when he spun to greet them, although his expression quickly melted at the sight of his wife. Pure adoration glowed from him as he watched her. Lucia couldn’t help but feel like she was intruding on a private moment but Sariyah didn’t seem to mind; she took his face in her hands, used her thumb to wipe a smudge from his cheek and kissed him there.

 

“Darling, this is Lucia, Elijah’s fiancee.”

 

“Ah, lovely to meet you!” He wiped his hands on his shirt before putting one out to her, she shook it. “I’m Reginald, Reginald Bonnet.”

 

“Lucia.” She replied. Sariyah plucked the man’s glasses from his face and began to clean the lenses on her cardigan.

 

“I don’t know how you manage to make such a mess, love.” She sighed exasperatedly, handing back the glasses carefully.

 

“Thank you, dear.” He put them back on. “I don’t quite know myself…”

 

“I didn’t think vampires could have sight problems.” Said Lucia curiously.

 

“Oh, he was adopted - born human and it became a habit.” Sariyah explained. “His sight is fine now but he struggles to concentrate without his spectacles perched on his nose!” She flicked said nose gently and he smiled at her. “Well, I’ll let you get on with your mess, Lucia is probably tired from being dragged around the house - humans, they’re like cats, always sleeping!” She winked cheekily at Lucia, who shook her head in return with a smile.

 

“Oh, yes, rest well!” He nodded and bumbled away to his canvases, each in a different degree of completion.

 

They left and Sariyah walked her back to her room, the door had been replaced in their absence.

 

“Same time tomorrow?” She asked with a grin.

 

“I might need to eat breakfast a little earlier than two in the afternoon,” Lucia laughed. “Any chance you could find some time for me in the AM?”

 

“Absolutely, I’ll see you at sunrise!” She announced with a thumbs up before hurrying away, closing the door behind her. Lucia began to protest but gave up quickly and flopped onto her bed, ready to fight her intrusive thoughts for the next eight hours… Maybe even get some sleep… Hopefully start to formulate her plan of escape… As much as she had warmed to Sariyah and Eden… and Reginald… She couldn’t stay - definitely couldn’t get married! No one told Lucia Adrienne Martinez what to do, where to go and certainly not who to love. 

 


	3. Elijah

Elijah had read the same paragraph at least three times but it would not sink into his head, the words felt foreign in his mind. He could read in four languages but for some reason couldn’t make sense of a few lines of text in English, his mind wandering every few seconds. Sariyah had gotten to him.

 

When Lucia had shown her obvious distaste for him at their first meeting he had made the decision to leave her be until they were married, then they could warm to each other without pressure - the vows would have already been made after all. But Sariyah was persistent in her view that he should ‘try harder to win her over’ and since traipsing the poor woman into his suite the day before he hadn’t been able to hold back the wave of suspicion that perhaps she was right. He wasn’t good with people. He put part of that down to his upbringing, having been born into this world as the heir to a multi-million pound dynasty, raised to one day take his place as the head of a clan built up of hundreds of blood-thirsty vampires, his parents were protective and would do anything to keep he and his sisters safe. But maybe… they may have taken it a little far. He knew there were those that gossiped about the fact that he and his siblings rarely left their home, but the truth was they hadn’t been allowed out until they were full-grown adults, and by that point they had little interest n the outside world. Eden was absorbed in her art, Alyssa had gotten swept up in her research and Elijah… he was much more shy than he liked to admit. He simply continued to follow the rules he always had, spent his days trying to be a helpful and diligent son.

 

He didn’t appreciate the attitude she’d shown so far but he also knew he hadn’t made much of an effort to make her feel comfortable in her new home. As they say, every day is a new beginning and Elijah was ready to make an attempt… orchestrated by Sariyah.

 

As he had been ordered by his dear cousin, Elijah waited patiently in the drawing room, perched awkwardly on an armchair.

 

He heard the women before they arrived, and not just because of his super-hearing, the pair were chattering noisily as they approached, thankfully not about him as he didn’t expect Lucia had anything nice to say on that matter. They entered side by side but Lucia froze halfway through the door at the sight of him, which didn’t do wonders for the self-esteem.

 

“Oh, hello, Elijah!” Sariyah barked with far too much fake-surprise. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes were overly wide and her smile too bright. Lucia looked between them with a hard and suspicious glare.

 

“What are YOU doing?” She asked Sariyah. The older woman swiftly ignored her, nodding to him sternly for him to hit his cue.

 

“I was just waiting for Alyssa, we had plans but it seems she’s busy so I suppose I’m not doing anything now.”

 

“Great, you should come with us on our walk around the grounds! Right, Lucia?”

 

“You got stood up by your own sister?” Lucia raised a brow at him over Sariyah’s head.

 

“I suppose?” He was answering Lucia but Sariyah took the confirmation as being for her.

 

“Wonderful, let’s go!” She led the way without looking back.

 

~

 

Elijah looked over Lucia as she trotted along, he could tell she was making a point of not looking at him, but that was okay, he wanted to get a proper look at her uninterrupted anyway. If someone in a meeting were to ask about his betrothal, he should probably be able to describe his future wife. He began to tick off facts in his head as he gazed at her: tall for a woman, black curly hair, black eyes, toned build, lightly muscled, dark complexion… maybe he shouldn’t use the word dark after what his mother had said… bronze-skinned? That sounded a bit better but he still probably wouldn’t say it out loud.

 

They rounded the edge of the trees and the flower garden came into view. Sariyah strode ahead to open the gate but Elijah faltered, Lucia had halted.

 

He looked at her curiously, “Lucia?” he called. She didn’t respond. He looked to Sariyah for assistance but she was already headed to the gazebo in the centre of the garden where full-vampires often read books and humans who were to be turned enjoyed afternoon tea. He walked back to her, keeping down his pace so as not to startle her. When he was close enough to touch he reached out, closing his fingers over her forearm gently.

 

“Are you feeling unwell?” He asked, running his thumb over her bare shoulder softly.

 

“It’s… It’s really pretty.” She said, snapping out of her daze with an embarrassed smile.

 

“Yes, I suppose it is.” He supposed when you were not used to being surrounded by the luxuries that very expensive gardeners and landscapers could afford, such a vibrant, colour-infused garden might seem extraordinary. Perhaps he should be more grateful for his blessings. “Please,” He took his hand back and gestured towards the wooden structure buried among the flora. “I’d be happy to give you a tour, our human clan-members take afternoon tea here in the summer, we could send for some ice tea and cakes?”

 

“And the pair of you will just watch me eat?”She huffed, striding away to meet Sariyah under the shelter. Elijah blinked twice, genuinely trying to work out where he went wrong. As she reached the steps he darted forward at his usual speed, falling back in line next to her. Lucia jumped a little, muttering ‘Jesus’ under her breath but continued forward to where Sariyah was leaning over the rail.

 

“I texted the house and they’re gonna bring a jug of lemonade and some sandwiches for us… well, you.”

 

“Thanks.” Lucia gave a small smile. Elijah did his utter damndest not to feel hurt, she didn’t trust him, she didn’t know him. He was the enemy in this scenario, her captor, the reason she was stuck in a house full of strangers, so far from her home, he needed to remember that.

 

~

 

He kept his mouth shut for most of the afternoon, simply watching her as she wandered through the flowers, shrubs and bushes, snacked on cucumber and ham sandwiches and bathed in the warm sunlight, the bright rays seemed to fill her with a serenity he hadn’t seen before. Sariyah babbled and gossiped as she always did and he thanked his lucky stars he had such a likeable cousin, even Lucia couldn’t resist her charm as she bestowed upon her many an embarrassing anecdote of the Bonnet family.

 

As they headed back towards the house, Sariyah skipped ahead with the leftover plates and empty jug, “I’ll pop these in the kitchen, Elijah can escort you back in.” she winked at him and he knew she was trying to tell him this was his chance, that he needed to try and be… charming. Lucia didn’t look pleased at being ditched but had the kindness to not make a comment about him. After maybe twenty seconds (that felt like an hour to a vampire trying to keep himself at human pace) he cleared his throat quietly.

 

“Did you like the garden?” He asked softly.

 

She pulled a sour face at the house ahead but mumbled, “Yes.”

 

“It’s a great time of year for you to arrive then, it’s so much more colourful in the summer.”

 

“I don’t think there’s every a good time of year to be kidnapped.”

 

Elijah sighed, “I’m trying my best.” he whispered.

 

“I don’t want your best,” She snapped, speeding up her steps. “I don’t want your anything.”

 

“I underst-”

 

“No, you don’t.” She stomped up the steps leading from the drive to the front doors of his home.

 

“But-” She was already gone. He toyed with the idea of chasing her but it didn’t seem like she wanted to hear anything he had to say. Plus his enhanced speed might come across a tad threatening if he were to appear beside her too quickly.

 

Elijah slumped away to his room to sulk, he knew he was being childish and that hiding away and stewing on the problem wasn’t going to solve it but Lucia was behaving childishly too, it wasn’t his fault her family didn’t care about her… He froze for a moment, that wasn’t a very nice thing to think, he had better not slip and say something like that in front of her, she was probably hurting enough as it was.

 

Hurt, he thought, maybe he was approaching her the wrong way, what she wanted right now was her family but they handed her over like a bag of garbage they couldn’t wait to be collected, so they needed to give her that inclusion, that family that she wanted. Sariyah was doing a good job of playing a sisterly role but he needed her to feel like a real part of the Bonnet clan, maybe it was time to make the engagement official, Lucia might enjoy getting to boss people around with his grandmother’s ring on her finger, very few could question her with such a precious and recognisable artifact on her hand.

 

Scratch that, he thought, she would definitely enjoy bossing people around.


	4. Lucia

Light had filled the bedroom already when Lucia awoke to gentle knocking on the door. She blinked a few extra times to clear her eyes and shuffled her body up a little to allow her to sit up a little higher to slouch across the many pillows she had been provided.

 

“Who is it?” She called with a heavy slur, patting her puffy face with her hands in an attempt to wake herself up quicker.

 

“Elijah.”

 

Alertness hit her like a wave in the face as her anger was ignited at the sound of his voice. She suddenly felt a hell of a lot more awake, she felt ready to fight.

 

She let him wait outside, in silence, for a few minutes while she made sure her body was covered by her pajamas and the blankets, that her dark curly hair was scraped into a high ponytail (if she had earrings on she’d have taken them off just in case) and pulled herself up further, gifting herself a few extra inches of height with a straight back.

 

“Come in.” She said clearly and with all the authority she had, in this room, in someone else’s house, in an unknown area of England…

 

Elijah opened the door and slid inside, much to Lucia’s disappointment he didn’t appear to be carrying a tray with breakfast foods on it.

 

"Morning." He greeted cordially.

 

"Morning." She replied, keeping her face and voice blank.

 

"I brought something for you." He stepped into the room fully, gently pushing the door to behind him, and walked to the bed. Lucia watched him carefully, she didn't trust him or his 'something for her'. She pulled her covers to her chest defensively and watched him approach. He was moving with deliberate plodding steps, she almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of how slow he envisioned human speed.

 

When he finally reached her he pulled a small, black velvet box from his trouser pocket and opened it to present her with the contents. Lucia’s curiosity got the better of her and she leant forward ever so slightly to peer at the ring sitting on the velvet cushion inside.

 

The ring itself was shaped with bright, shining silver that had been immaculately cleaned. The gem in the centre was a large blush-coloured sapphire while the smaller stones framing it were diamonds, he explained. Then he gave her a brief history of the ring, how it had been passed down through generation after generation, the last owner being his grandmother who had given it to him when she passed away so that he could propose to his future wife with it.

 

“So, you came to give it to me?” Lucia said with little enthusiasm. She felt like a moron sitting there and staring at the sparkling antique as though it had crash landed into his hand from another planet.

 

His hand didn’t falter, he continued to hold out the small box as he added, “I was hoping it would make you feel more a part of this family.”

 

“Why would I want to be part of this family?” She snapped, but she couldn’t meet his eyes when she said it.

 

“Because your own sold you?” He snapped back just as quickly. The words bit at her with a sharpness she hadn’t expected, an acidic burn sat in the pit of her stomach. “Sorry,” He blurted, “I shouldn’t-”

 

“No,” She cut him off, “you’re right, they did.” she still refused to make eye contact with him as she spoke. “I don’t want to be part of that family either.”A lie, a blatant lie, but she didn’t need his pity. She would always be a Martinez whether they wanted her or not.

 

A sickly silence sat between them for an awkwardly long time.

 

“What do you want?” He asked quietly.

 

“To leave.”

 

"Where is it that you wish to go?" He asked, placing a hand on her lower leg over the covers. "I will take you wherever you want, once we are married."

 

"I don't know." She whined, running her hands through her hair. "But wherever I want to go, I don't want to go with you!" She knew she was being a brat but she didn't care. He was simply trying to placate her, he didn't care about what she wanted. 'Once we are married' her left butt cheek! She wasn't signing her name on anything, she wasn't wearing a ring and she certainly wouldn't be consummating the marriage!

 

He sighed and pulled his hand back, “I hope you change your mind, eternity is long enough without an angry wife.” he said irritably.

 

“I hope you see how ridiculous this all is and have the decency to let me leave.”

 

“I can’t disobey my parents.” His voice dropped and she hoped it was from shame.

 

“Coward.” She spat.

 

She pulled the covers over her head and curled up onto her side, signalling that the conversation was over. She heard him sigh again but also the door opening and closing.

 

When she peeked out, he was gone, and he had taken the ring with him.

 

~

 

Lucia had been all but dragged into Mrs Bonnet’s private sitting room, she was learning more and more every day with dread just how strong vampires were. The room was filled with self-indulgent artwork, everything was black and white and modern, the woman to blame was dressed to match in a black pant suit.

 

Lucia was pushed by the shoulders into a stool facing the matriarch and the older woman began pulling out mood boards and fabric samples.

 

“It is time to begin making decisions about the big day.” She said with a wild smile that didn’t fit her harshly angled face.

 

~

 

There were no clocks in the room, Lucia had looked, she had scanned every inch for a way of calculating the time passing her by but there was none. She felt as though she had been sat on that puny stool for hours as Mrs Bonnet poured over photos of cakes and table decorations and flowers, so many fucking flowers. Lucia wasn’t interested when they started but now she was on the verge of falling asleep, or maybe bursting into tears. Or both, who knew at that point.

 

She had managed to avoid giving any real answers so far, just shrugs and ‘hmm’s, but Mrs Bonnet was beginning to grow tired of these non-committal responses.

 

She had begun to lecture her about the importance of these decisions…

 

“You have to take part in the preparations at some point,” Mrs Bonnet rambled on, “don’t you want to make your special day… special?” as if they weren’t both well aware that they had been going around in circles since she was placed before the matriarch. Lucia had no interest in playing wedding planners with this woman. “You’ll regret it for the rest for your life if you don’t!”

 

“As long as I survive to my divorce it makes no difference to me.” Lucia groaned with an eye roll that Mrs Bonnet ignored with a sympathetic smile.

 

“I don’t mind taking full creative control over the day if you truly don’t want to organise anything.” She said with a voice pumped full of artificial sweetener. Despite her pitiful expression Lucia could feel the excitement almost rolling off the woman in waves, as she shrugged her indifference she knew she had just given her mother-in-law the greatest gift she could have ever hoped for. “Wonderful! I will create the fairytale wedding of your dreams, I promise!” Lucia wondered what exactly Mrs Bonnet thought she dreamed about… it definitely wasn’t fairytale weddings. “The only thing you’ll need to choose for yourself is your dress! We’ll get you measured and you can describe what you want to our dressmaker, Britney, she’s a lovely lady, I’ll send her round this afternoon.”

 

Lucia perked up instantly, sensing an exit, “So, I can leave now?” she asked hopefully.

 

“Mmhmm.” Mrs Bonnet had never looked so pleased in front of Lucia as she did now that she had full control of the wedding - oh, what a great dictator this woman would make, Lucia mused. But Mrs Bonnet was no longer interested in her, her eyes raked over the colour swatches with a new-found excitement and energy.

 

Lucia scarpered before the crazy old hag could change her mind.

 

~

 

Lucia was hiding in the library when Britney was sent for her, she was a very young lady, or at least she looked like one and her blonde ponytail bobbed behind her as though her curls were made up of slinkies as she approached. She reminded one of a Barbie doll but chubbier. Lucia almost felt sorry for her, she didn’t look like she could handle the attitude she was about to catch.

 

“I’m not getting measured and I’m not designing a dress.” Lucia announced before the woman got too close to where she was curled up in a plush arm chair, her feet beneath her and a book perched on her knees.

 

Britney paused, her notepad clutched to her chest and her lips pinched together in an awkward expression, “So, you’re going to tell me your size and pick something… off the rack?” she asked hopefully.

 

“I’m not picking a dress,” Lucia said simply, her brows raised almost to her hairline. “I’m not taking part in this charade in any way.”

 

“So what will you wear on your wedding day?”

 

Hiking boots and lots of khaki, Lucia thought, as she walked her sorry butt as far away from this compound as was humanly possible. The woman was watching her silently, she stared back for a few moments until she could see she was visibly uncomfortable.

 

“I’m sure you have lots to do.” Lucia hinted with a tight smile.

 

“Understood.”

 

Britney left quietly and pulled the door shut behind her. Lucia grinned to herself.

 

~

 

Barely half an hour later, Elijah dumped a thick catalogue on the table in front of her.

 

“Pick one.” He said with a harsh edge to his voice. Lucia squinted at the book, then up at him to find out who the fuck he thought he was talking to like that. He nodded at the bridal dress catalogue with a stern expression. Looks like the mommy’s boy was getting serious, Lucia thought with amusement.

 

“I don’t like any of them.” She said snottily.

 

“You haven’t opened it.” He gave her a very tight smile that had her tempted to offer him chapstick.

 

Instead, she gave him a grim grin back before replying,“They’re just not my taste.” and nodded at the door to send him on his way back to his mother who was probably waiting to breastfeed him his lunch.

 

“What is your problem?” He asked incredulously, “My mother is doing everything to recreate a magical royal wedding with decorations and outfits and a feast of food that only you and a handful of other people can actually eat and you can’t just do her the favour of picking a dress?” he leant down and slid the catalogue closer to her with an almost pleading look.

 

“She’s planning her own dream wedding, trust me, she’s enjoying this far more than I ever could.”

 

“It’s still a lot of work.” He said quietly, a delicious hint of defeat in his tone that Lucia ate up proudly.

 

“Maybe you could offer her some assistance then, in fact, why don’t you pick the dress?” She suggested with all of the sweetness she could squeeze into her usually sarcastic voice. “I want nothing more than for you to find me attractive, it’s my life’s purpose to please you after all.” Okay, that line was probably a bit too much, it made her stomach heave a little and finally dragged Elijah’s forced pleasant smile into a frown.

 

“A potato sack it is then,” He said sulkily, “we’ll still need to measure you for the size of the arm holes though.” he snatched up the catalogue.

 

“If I tell you my dress size will you leave me in peace?” She couldn’t believe she was giving him an inch, knowing full well his mother would reach over his head and demand the mile.

 

Elijah blinked and raised his brows hopefully, “And you have to pick a dress.” he added, placing the thick book down in front of her again.

 

“I thought we just agreed on the sack?” She allowed her natural cheekiness to slip into her voice, it had always been hard for her to stay serious.

 

“Burlap is your colour.” He added with a half-grin.

 

“Racist.” She snorted.

 

Elijah froze for a moment, the way most white people did when you made a joke like that, they always had to run through it a few times in their head and make sure they weren’t actually in trouble.

 

“Wait, what?” He finally managed to mutter.

 

“I’m a ten,” She offered as amicably as she could, “don’t pick anything that could be mistaken for a meringue.” she threw the catalogue at him (he caught it easily in one hand), stood, and strode from the room as quickly as was possible.

 

~

 

Her room was on the other side of the far-too-large house and she had to stomp for what felt like miles until she even reached the main foyer again. When she did, she noticed Elijah’s sister, the skinny one with the straight hair, hanging around the bottom of the stairs with a sour expression. Her name was… Alice? No, Alyssa. Lucia shook her head, it didn’t matter what the frosty bitch’s name was, they would hopefully never have to speak again for the rest of her natural (and human) life.

 

Alyssa was pacing back and forth agitatedly, her lips moving as though she were muttering to herself but no sound reached Lucia’s ears. Lucia ignored her and continued on her way to the other side. She didn’t need to get swept up in the crazy that was swirling around that woman, she could practically smell the psycho on her.

 

As she approached the corridor connecting her to the opposite side of the house, her hair snagged and her head jerked backwards sharply and painfully. The shock and pain momentarily paralysed her.

 

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Was snarled into her ear.

 

“I-What?” Lucia managed to turn her head enough to give Alyssa a look of utter bewilderment.

 

“Shut up.” The woman growled, dragging her backwards.

 

“B-” Lucia began, but she was quickly cut off by her attacker,

 

“I thought I had more time to get rid of you thanks to your shitty attitude problem,” A smack was delivered to the back of Lucia’s head, clocking her head forward again. “but he’s trying so hard to get close to you I have no choice - I can’t let him get any more attached than he already is.” Lucia couldn’t tell if she was actually addressing her or if she was talking to herself, either way Lucia was completely lost as to what she had done to offend. “Why is he trying to get close? There’s no point!” Alyssa yanked on Lucia’s curls again, so hard she was sure she must have lost a chunk. “There’s no point in him trying to get close to you when I was born to be his wife.”

 

“You what?” Lucia couldn’t help the words that shot from her lips in a moment of confusion and disgust. “You want to marry your own brother?”

 

“We are not blood, you moron, I was chosen by his family. Chosen because I am perfect. Chosen because I fit the Bonnet standard.” She gave Lucia’s ankle a swift kick where she had been attempting to drag her feet. “Not like you with your brown skin and black eyes, where did they find you? In a cardboard box next to a burrito stand?”

 

“I’m half Dominican.” Lucia didn’t know why she said it, it literally made no difference in the situation she was in of being dragged down the hallway by her hair in the hands of an incestuous vampire, but her pride got the better of her. Burritos are Mexican.

 

 The woman ignored her.

 

Once Alyssa had reached the top of the stairs she twisted Lucia to face her roughly, causing her back to scream in pain from one of her legs being left behind her. But Lucia still fought back, kicking at Alyssa's stomach and swinging her body back and forth.

 

The vampire's rock hard abs hurt her toes and she wasn't making a smidge of progress flinging herself round. All she was creating was more pain for herself and she knew that, but it was the principle, she didn’t go down without a fight.

 

"You're so annoying." Alyssa growled quietly, digging her fingers into Lucia's skin painfully, the smaller girl squealed.

 

“Get your fucki-” A hand grabbed her jaw with a vice-like grip, cutting off any more sounds. She continued to struggle and squirm, desperately seeking a weak spot or opening but the woman’s arms remained rock solid.

 

“Shut up, whore.” Alyssa whispered into her ear. If Lucia had had the ability to open her mouth, she would definitely have questioned how she could be labelled a whore by a woman who wanted to fuck her own brother. But instead she made angry muffled noises through her clamped teeth as she continued to struggle. She flailed her legs wildly now, even if kicking Alyssa felt like kicking a football filled with concrete. It was very depressing that Lucia put in as much time in the gym as she did for it to mean nothing against these superhuman creepers.

 

“You’re nothing but a walking, talking incubator.” She spat with such venom it actually sent a jolt through Lucia’s stomach.

 

Her body spun with a speed that dizzied her and suddenly her heels were hanging over the edge of the top step as she faced Alyssa’s clavicle. Stupid nineties supermodel body.

 

Her hand was still gripping Lucia’s mouth and chin but that didn’t stop the shorter woman giving her the best stink-eye possible until her feet suddenly wobbled on the step, sending a jolt of self-awareness through her - if she leant back it would only take a small slip to send her tumbling to the bottom, how many stairs would she hit on the way down? Twenty? Thirty?

 

So this was her plan, scare tactics. She wanted to make Lucia run for the hills, stupid bitch hadn’t clocked that she was actively trying to and had been since she arrived. How many more ways would Lucia have to explain to these people that being here, marrying Elijah, was not her choice? No amount of threats could change that.

 

Alyssa looked deep into her eyes once more, green glaring into black, and flung her out from the top step. Lucia’s body seemed to hover in the air for a moment, shock clouding her thoughts as she tried to formulate any kind of plan - stop, drop and roll? Bend her knees? Suddenly the chandelier above her was getting further and further away and she realised it was too late, she was already plummeting to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every year between July and November I got through a phase where I suddenly struggle to write anything, this is the 4th year I've gone through this and I have no idea why. I literally only got this chapter out because so much of it was pre-written that all I had to do was edit.


	5. Elijah

“Lucia!” Elijah called as wandered through the house, he hadn’t seen her all day and he had news to share.

 

He could whip round the entire house in a matter of minutes but Sariyah had informed him that his super-speed ‘creeped Lucia out’ so he continued to walk at an incredibly restrained pace, making his way to the foyer at the front of the house. “Lucia!” He tried again, but still no reply. “I picked a dress, don’t you want to check it isn’t too dessert-y?”

 

As he approached the top of the stairs leading to the main doors, he could feel himself becoming irritated. He had put a lot of thought into his dress choice and actually cared whether or not she liked it, hiding away from him and pretending she couldn’t hear him was simply childish and rude. It felt like with every step he took in the right direction with her, she pushed him two feet back, by the time they reached the aisle they might actually manage to like each other even less than they did when she arrived. Well, he hadn’t disliked her when they met for the first time, he just hadn’t felt anything… which was almost as bad as far as he was concerned. The woman who was meant to be his wife for the rest of his hopefully long life had looked at him with such venom that he couldn’t even enjoy the moment, the only emotion he had felt in those moments was shock, maybe tinged with a little annoyance at her attitude…

 

His internal monologue was cut short as he stepped down the first stair and froze at the sight of what was at the bottom.

 

Lucia lay flat on her back, her arms and legs held out slightly as though she were half-way through a snow angel, her hair curled around her face and out along the ground like tendrils of a wild plant growing free and untamed, her eyes were closed and her lips slightly parted, if she weren’t lying at the bottom of the stairs he might have thought she was taking a nap or maybe meditating, she looked completely at ease.

 

However, she was at the bottom of the stairs, and while Elijah had not met a great many humans in his time, the ones he had had been exceedingly clumsy. He raced to her side and thankfully she was breathing, although he was concerned to find when he lifted her wrist that her skin was chilled almost to that of the temperature of the marble floor, she had been there for a long time.

 

He pulled his phone out and hurriedly called the clan doctor, Dr Farris, who gave him instructions as he made his way to the Bonnet mansion from his clinic situated a few acres away among the general clan housing.

 

“Don’t move her neck or spine, if she’s fallen down the stairs those are going to be the two areas we need to be most concerned about, if you move her you could damage her further or tear something that was fine before.” The man explained through the muffled line.

 

“Yes, sir.” Elijah answered, hovering over Lucia uselessly.

 

“How far has she fallen from?”

 

“I don’t know, but she’s at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance.”

 

“How high are those stairs? I need a maximum fall distance.”

 

“You’ve been here before, don’t you remember them?” Elijah snapped, he knew in the logical side of his brain that he had no right to be angry at Dr Farris, it wasn’t his fault Lucia was injured, but the panicked side was screaming at him to hurry up and get here and just DO SOMETHING.

 

“With there not being any humans living in the Bonnet mansion for quite some time I haven’t been needed as much, son, in fact my most recent clear memory of being in your home was your birth, so if you could give me an estimate on those stairs?”

 

“Right, apologies, around ten feet, I believe?” He looked over his shoulder at the imposing pile of steps to confirm his estimate. “I don’t think more than fifteen…” He winced, “Definitely not more than twenty feet.” he said uncertainly.

 

“Okay, I don’t like that the number is rising here, Mr Bonnet, the higher the fall the more likely for there to be a head injury.”

 

“Right.” Elijah replied, purely because he had no idea what else to say. Dr Farris pushed open the left front door and darted to Lucia’s other side, pushing his phone back into his pocket. He was carrying an enormous bag in one hand and a stretcher in the other, how he had managed to not break it carrying it under his arm like that Elijah had no idea but the old man seemed relaxed enough as he laid his things out around him and stood the stretcher to one side.

 

“And head injuries are one of the most common causes of mortality in falls.” Dr Farris added, continuing their conversation as if they were still on the phone. He took a torch from his bag, pulled back her eyelids and shone it in. “Was she unconscious when you found her or has she had her eyes open at all?” Satisfied with her pupils, he took his stethoscope and began pressing into her chest from different angles.

 

“No, she’s been unconscious the entire time.”

 

“Hmm.” He said, the sound didn’t fill Elijah with the relief he was hoping for from Dr Farris.

 

The older man threw his stethoscope back into the bag and pulled out a blood pressure machine and a pulse oximeter, he attached them to her (one on each side) very delicately, Elijah held his breath as her arms were shifted, the doctor’s earlier words about jostling her spine running through his mind like a flashing sign, he didn’t technically need to breathe but he couldn’t help it, the nerves were making him act stupidly.

 

“Has she reacted in any way even in her unconscious state?” He pressed the green button on the blood pressure machine and watched the small screen carefully. “Any convulsing, rolling eyes, gagging?”

 

“No.”

 

“Hmm.” He read the reading but gave no reaction and Elijah didn’t know what numbers he was hoping for, Elijah was born a vampire, he had never been sick or needed medical attention in his life. Dr Farris lifted one hand ever so slightly and squeezed each of her fingers and did the same on the other side.

 

“She’s breathing.” Elijah offered weakly.

 

“Yes, and luckily with young people they tend to either get on with it and die or they survive so this is a great sign.” He replied cheerfully, moving to pull her shoes off just as gently as all of his actions so far. “Not like the elderly, goodness, just when you think they seem to have made a full recovery - poof!” He shook his head and pushed himself up.

 

“That’s… good?” Elijah asked weakly. Dr Farris ignored the question.

 

“We’re going to need to get her into the medical wing here in the house so we can do a CT, x-rays, monitor her vitals.”

 

“I couldn’t smell any blood, is that a good thing?”

 

“Well, blood doesn’t always mean an injury is more severe - in fact my biggest concern at the moment is her brain swelling against her skull and killing her. Now, step aside so I can get her stabilised, I don’t want her neck moving at all as we wheel her through.” He took a large red block that had been resting on the stretcher and began to attach it around her neck.

 

“Back to the brain swelling-”

 

“Mr Bonnet, if you could please stop dithering around I’d like to concentrate on doing my job.” he gave Elijah a firm look before returning to the velcro straps he was securing.

 

“Yes, okay.” He stood back and allowed the doctor to stabilise her, lower the stretcher, slide her onto it from a plastic board and push her to the medical wing. Elijah had never had a reason to go there but Dr Farris seemed confident enough in his sense of direction so he kept quiet and followed.

 

~

 

Elijah was sent to sit in the empty ward while Lucia was taken to be scanned. He felt like a naughty schoolchild awaiting chastisement, the chair he was balancing on didn’t help, it was small and plastic and blue just like the ones he had seen in human primary schools on television.

 

Dr Farris trundled into the room with a stack of papers in his arms looking surprisingly unfazed.

 

“Okay,” He said without looking at Elijah as he separated his papers, “while she has her scans with Dr Varnava, I need some background information on your sweetheart,” he unclipped a pen from his shirt pocket and attached it to a clipboard he was adding sheets of paper to. “congratulations on the engagement by the way, did you get my card?” He finally looked up to raise his brows at Elijah.

 

“Oh,” Elijah was thrown off by the pleasantries and had to take a moment to think about the question, “no, I think… I think my parents probably have it.” he responded slowly.

 

“No problem, it was just a silly ball-and-chain joke with a black and white photograph, I thought it was funny.”

 

“I’m sure it was.” Elijah replied awkwardly, he had never come across a social situation such as this and was quite bamboozled as to what to say. He was utterly petrified, worrying for his bride-to-be’s life, and Dr Farris wanted his opinion on a comical congratulatory card.

 

“Anyway, your beaux, I have a couple of forms for you to fill out with her basic information,” He handed Elijah the clipboard and pen. “but first I need to ask the questions that actually apply to the incident at hand.”

 

“Of course, go ahead.”

 

“Has anything like this ever happened before?”

 

Elijah wanted to be sarcastic, say his fiancée fell fifteen feet all the time, that it was a hobby for her. “Um, I haven’t seen her fall down before.” He mumbled instead.

 

“Have you witnessed her faint before?”

 

“No, sir.”

 

“Does she drink?”

 

“Um, not as far as I’ve seen…”

 

“Is she on any medications?”

 

“Not that I know of.”

 

“Any pre-existing conditions?”

 

“I don’t know, I would assume not as my father probably checked for that before he picked her.”

 

“Thank you, Mr Bonnet, you’ve been very helpful.” Elijah knew that was a lie but he gave a grateful smile anyway. “If you could just do your best with those forms and I will update you as soon as I have news.”

 

“Thank you very much, Dr Farris.”

 

Dr Farris strode out and left Elijah alone with the clipboard. He bit his lip, the only question he could answer on any of these forms was ‘first name’, maybe ‘last name’ if he put ‘Bonnet’ although that was a little premature. His pen hovered over the box for a few minutes before his cousin’s voice plucked him from his confusion,

 

“Martinez.” Sariyah offered.

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Martinez. Lucia Adrienne Martinez.”

 

“Oh, thank you.” He nodded and wrote the names down. “Don’t suppose you could be so kind as to know the answers to the rest?”

 

“Her date of birth is sixteenth of August nineteen-ninety-eight.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“She’s not on any meds but she does drink occasionally.”

 

“Okay.” He ticked the appropriate boxes and tried not to dwell on how his cousin knew these things about his betrothed… had Lucia been drinking since she arrived at their home? Had she been drinking in their home?

 

“That’s all I know, kid.” Sariyah’s voice dragged his eyes up to view her grim expression. “Mind if I sit tight with you and wait to see what Dr Farris says?”

 

Elijah took a deep breath that he didn’t need to steel his nerves and nodded, “How did you know something had happened?” he asked quietly.

 

“That nurse, the one with the harsh bob, she let me know as she was dashing past to pick up some supplies for the good doctor.”

 

Elijah almost physically felt his ears prick up, “Supplies?” he repeated, “What did they need? Was it gauze? Is she bleeding?” he searched Sariyah’s frozen face for any hint of an answer before she had even opened her mouth.

 

“I-I don’t know,” Sariyah stammered, “and I am as worried as you so stop blathering, it’s making me feel sick.” she added with a stern look that wouldn’t have been out of place on a headteacher facing down an insolent child.

 

“You can’t get sick.” Elijah countered, although even he could hear in his voice that his heart wasn’t in it, he didn’t have the energy to bicker.

 

“Well, I feel it, so be quiet.” Sariyah dropped into one of the blue plastic chairs with little grace and rested her chin on her hand.

 

Elijah sighed but obeyed.

 

What felt like hours of silence passed, despite the clock only registering a few minutes having been completed. Elijah’s head was swirling with worry, his mind creating awful scenarios and then refusing to flush them out no matter how hard he tried to replace them with other thoughts… translating poems he had read into Latin and back again only occupied so much time when you were used to moving and thinking at a hundred miles per hour.

 

“He said her brain could swell up.” He finally whispered. “That it could press against her skull and kill her.”

 

“Elijah.” Sariyah whispered warningly.

 

“What if she’s dead and he just can’t face me?”

 

“Elijah, I mean it.” She growled, her eyes full of despair. “Shut up.”

 

He nodded, pursed his lips and tried to think of more poems to translate.


	6. Elijah

The sound of a medical cot trundled its way towards the ward and both Elijah and Sariyah leapt from their seats to peer through the open door. Blonde bob nurse was pulling it from the front with Dr Farris steadying it from the side and smiling pleasantly at the pair. Elijah’s eyes, however, snapped straight to the body in the bed.

 

Eyes closed, lips ever so slightly parted, skin two shades lighter than her usual bronze tone, black curls splayed against the pillow… She looked ill, but feverish ill, not recently fell from the heavens onto marble like a dramatic recreation of a renaissance painting ill. But then that was what they needed to be worried about, wasn’t it? The internal injuries were what they had to fear. She was breathing though, and her heart was beating. She was still in there.

 

The hospital bed entered the room and was wheeled into the only empty bay of the three on the ward and the cousins followed it like a pair of puppy dogs looking for their owner.

 

“Well?” Sariyah whispered, much to Elijah’s relief, he was too nervous to ask but he desperately wanted to know.

 

“From the front she looks good, huh?” The good doctor said as he shuffled through his notes and scans distractedly, “The back of her, however, looks like Picasso’s Blue Nude.”

 

“Her brain?” Elijah finally managed to gasp out.

 

“Oh, yes.” Dr Farris held up a large scan gingerly, “See here, CT scan, surprisingly it shows no bleeding or fracture.” he dumped it on the bed to pull out a second scan which looked, to Elijah at least, almost exactly the same except that it was slightly larger. “And this one? MRI. Her brain tissue looks pretty okay.”

 

“Pretty okay?”

 

“She’s a very lucky lady.” He nodded to himself, sifting the scans into an order he deemed appropriate and sliding it into the plastic box hanging from the end of the bed, “Her back is severely bruised and she will most likely need some spinal adjustment from a chiropractor when the inflammation and soreness recedes - especially for her neck - and I have no doubt she will have a rather nasty concussion.” he waved over blonde bob nurse who scurried to his side.

 

“How nasty?” Elijah asked hesitantly.

 

“Oh, a grade three for sure. She’s unconscious.” Dr Farris raised his eyebrows with a look that was clearly accusing Elijah of being a grade three moron, “Did you not see how far she fell?” he muttered to the nurse a list of machines he wanted moved and attached and how he wanted hem set up.

 

“I did,” Elijah began, “but I mean what does nasty mean in terms of her health?”

 

“Well, we’ll be watching out for vomiting, dizziness, amnesia, light or noise sensitivity, a slur in her speech… there are a lot of symptoms.” He said offhandedly, “Of course, this is all assuming she actually wakes up, she could slip into a coma!” he ticked a few boxes on more forms handed to him by nurse number two who had darted into the curtained off area, barely glancing at Elijah as he doddled.

 

“Thank you, doctor.” Sariyah growled through gritted teeth.

 

“Either way, we’re not going to know until she does wake up, so until then I shall leave her under Julie’s watchful eye.” At the mention of her name, the human nurse began attaching monitoring apparatus to Lucia’s body via various wires. “You may stay with her if you please but please try not to get in my staff’s way.”

 

“You’re leaving?” Elijah asked incredulously.

 

“There is nothing I can do until she wakes up, she has no broken bones for me to set or bleeding for me to halt. I will return for hourly checks or when she wakes up, whichever comes first.”

 

And with that, the good doctor waddled away with nurse number two scurrying behind him.

 

“So, we gonna do this in shifts?” Sariyah was managing to keep her voice surprisingly upbeat, perhaps she had read more into what the doctor had said than Elijah had.

 

“What?” He asked quietly.

 

“Watching over her, are we doing it in shifts?”

 

“We’re immortal, we only sleep if we want to and we can have blood bags brought to us. Why do we need shifts?” He said slowly, knowing his expression must radiate pure confusion at her suggestion. “Also, I think she’d much prefer to see you upon waking than me.” His tone was becoming anxious now, speeding up. “She actually likes you and would want your comfort, I’m here for purely selfish reasons I-”

 

“You need to stop dithering.” Sariyah interrupted with raised brows and a set lip. “She’s not going to appreciate seeing either of us with the amount of pain she’s going to be in when she wakes up-”

 

“-If.” He mumbled.

 

Sariyah’s expression was hard, “Don’t.” she said firmly.

 

“So we both get to stay?” He asked hopefully.

 

She nodded and stood up, much to Elijah’s confusion.

 

“First though, I’m grabbing a book or three to settle in with.” Her face had softened, she was looking at him with sympathy that he wasn’t sure if he appreciated or not. “I got the feeling that Dr Farris wasn’t expecting a speedy awakening.” Elijah had had the same feeling and it made his stomach twist into painful knots, was this what humans felt when they were starving? “You think you can hold down the fort for five?” She added, hands on slim hips.

 

“Y-yeah.” He nodded with little enthusiasm. “Of course.”

 

“I’ll grab you a couple too.”

 

“Thanks.” He mumbled, watching her stride away purposefully.

 

He was grateful, he just didn’t know how much it would help when he was worrying, what if he was completely invested in a study on the structure of the brain and how it is affected by adolescent traumatic stress and she simply slipped away right beside him. His attention needed to be on Lucia. With that thought his eyes drifted to her. The blankets were still rising and falling, that was what mattered, right? Even if no other body part seemed to be moving, he could hear her heart beating.

 

Hurried footsteps cut into the silence and Elijah instantly sat up straighter to peer out into the hallway. A member of their human housekeeping staff was power-walking towards him, his eyes shifting left and right nervously and his hands shaking.

 

“Can I help you?” He asked in the hopes of stopping the shifty man before he made it into the room.

 

This did nothing to halt him though and he barrelled in at the same speed until he was just inches from touching Elijah’s arm with his hip.

 

“I needed to speak to you in private, sir.” The man whispered. His whole body seemed to be revving up like a lawn-mower, trembling from shoes to wispy hair.

 

“Regarding?”

 

The mouse-like man nodded in Lucia’s direction and Elijah swung the blue dividing curtain around their bay. The man winced nervously at the air rushing past him. Elijah dropped back into his seat again.

 

“I just… It’s…” His hands were tying themselves together like a pair of unruly shoelaces and it was beginning to irk him. “I heard that she fell…” He finally managed to mumble.

 

“Is that it?” Elijah snapped.

 

“I was in the upstairs dining room at the time, sir.” The man continued, “and I didn’t hear the sound of a body hitting the stairs…” his eyebrows raised in implication and Elijah nodded him along with a hard squint, “but I did hear raised voices… it sounded like arguing.” the man bit his lip and watched Elijah’s face carefully.

 

“Arguing between who?”

 

“I don’t know for sure, sir, I figured it was none of my business and that it wouldn’t be taken very well if I tried to stick my nose out to look.” The man continued to speak at lowest possible volume for a human, “I was rather sure it was women, though.” the word ‘women’ he barely managed to squeak out.

 

“Do you remember anything else?”

 

The man gave a sheepish look as he replied, “I heard a loud thump sound after the arguing finished,” before Elijah could interrupt with more questions he continued hurriedly, “but again, I didn’t want to get involved.” the man shook his greasy hair with an alarmed expression. “As it is, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone that I told you even this, sir.” He added carefully.

 

Elijah squeezed his hands into fists - who was this servant man to tell him who he could and could not speak to? He managed to growl, “Why, may I ask?” with a tight jaw.

 

“I don’t want to end up like her.” The man whispered, his eyes darted to Lucia’s face.

 

Elijah’s anger at the small man swept out of him in one breath, like a wave had crashed into his face and knocked all of his frustration out instantly. A droplet or two of guilt lingered though.

 

“You have my word,” He said solemnly, “but I want yours that you share this information with no one else.” he put his hand out and the man shook it weakly.

 

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

 

The curtain parted and he was gone, marching away just as he had arrived: nervously and sweatily.

 

~

 

When Sariyah returned she announced she had sent one of their human assistants to let the rest of the family know what had happened. Elijah nodded, more to himself than to her. He wasn’t angry with her, but he was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to reveal the news himself, he was hoping it might reveal who, if anyone, was involved. He had been lingering on the conversation with that mousy man since he left, running through all sorts of ridiculous possibilities…

 

From her quizzical look, he thought Sariyah could tell something was off but she didn’t question him when he excused himself to speak to the good doctor.

 

~

 

“Dr Farris, could I have a moment of your time?” He asked as he slid himself into the doctor’s private office, pushing the door shut with a click behind him. The room was overflowing with papers, books and graphs. Doctor Farris wasn’t a fan of new-age technology, it seemed.

 

“My goodness,” Dr Farris exclaimed with little enthusiasm, “you managed to pry yourself from your beloved’s bedside?” he sat back in his wheelie chair and shifted a little to get comfortable.

 

“I need to ask you something gravely serious, sir.”

 

“Of course, son, go ahead.”

 

“Lucia’s injuries,” Elijah paused for a moment, listening for extra ears in the hallway, “from what you’ve seen, do they coincide with the explanation that she fell down the stairs?” he wondered for a brief second if he would regret asking.

 

“I’m very glad you asked,” Dr Farris replied, his expression slipping into a solemn frown that didn’t suit him, “I had been hesitant to broach the topic with you so soon.” he finally looked Elijah fully in the eyes, holding his gaze firmly.“The short answer is no.”

 

Elijah’s mind was racing. He didn’t know if this was the answer he wanted or not.

 

“And the long answer?” He finally managed to breath out.

 

Dr Farris sat up straighter and rested his elbows on his knees in preparation for his oncoming speech, “All of her damage is spread across one side of her body as though she either fell straight down like a plank of wood, which isn’t possible as there’s no way she could launch herself that far, deliberately or accidentally, or hurtled from the top like a sled flat on her back, and that would be very unlikely as she would have to have been unconscious prior to the slide.”

 

“Right.” Elijah offered, unsure what to add but not wanting Dr Farris to stop.

 

“You see,” Dr Farris continued, “humans are frightfully good at this flailing thing they do when they’re in danger. Also, when humans fall down stairs they tend to either slip back onto their bottoms and bruise their thighs and arms but with very little distance managed because of the arms and thighs acting as door stops… or they trip, stumble and end up rolling in some form or another, which would leave bruises all over the limbs where they attempt to slow their descent. And yet only her head and back are lumpy and bruised.”

 

“It’s possible she fell head-first?”

 

“Not with that level of damage, that staircase is very long and not very steep, she could have easily halted her fall by the midway point.”

 

“So, there’s no way it was an accident?”

 

“The only way I could fathom her doing this much damage, to only two areas of her body, on these stairs, by herself, would be if she were attempting to ‘surf’ down the bannister, as the kids call it, and lost control of her speed. But she would have had to have been going very fast.”

 

“Thank you so much, Dr Farris, I appreciate your input greatly.” Elijah pushed himself off from the wall beside the door and added, “What I would appreciate just a little more though would be if you could keep what we have discussed to yourself for the time being.” with a tight smile.

 

“Of course, Elijah,” Dr Farris nodded, his expression turning grandfatherly and almost warm, “as far as I am concerned, Miss Martinez took a terrible tumble.” he returned to his work and Elijah nodded to himself before excusing himself from the cramped and paper-filled office.

 

~

 

Elijah ran through every member of the household, anyone who would have any reason to enter their home, anyone with access to enter their home… He could rule out no one… On that train of thought his eyes slid to Sariyah’s small form curled up on her plastic chair.

 

He had known his cousin since she married into the family decades ago, they had been close for most of that time… But was it possible she had a mean streak? She had gotten so close to Lucia so quickly… She had known something had happened almost immediately… She had informed the family as soon as possible… And now she was hovering by her bedside - waiting for a chance to finish the job?

 

But he couldn’t for the life of him put a motive to her name, she had no reason to do this except manic spite. Unless she simply wanted to cause Lucia incredible physical pain for the sake of it, there was no explanation. She gained nothing from injuring her, nothing from killing her, nothing from interrupting his marriage.

 

He was being crazy. Suspecting the one person in this house who he could he believed genuinely cared for his betrothed’s well-being. Well, besides him… maybe his father… although Elijah didn’t like to think about how quickly his father could replace her with another young, dark-haired human for a measly twenty grand.

 

But someone had hurt her, and odds were that it was a member of his family. The ratio of family members to staff in the house was very skewed.

 

It was going to be a long wait with such awful thoughts swirling around his brain like a whirlpool… He glanced at Lucia’s soft features for the hundredth time that hour… She was strong and stubborn, she would wake up…


	7. Elijah

The soft beep of the heart monitor suddenly stuttered a little and sped up, only by a small increment, but enough to snap Elijah and Sariyah’s heads in their charge’s direction.

 

Long and dark lashes fluttered, eyelids twitched and a shallow crease appeared in her brow. Every muscle in Elijah’s body was tensed. His eyes glued to her face.

 

Lucia’s eyes slide open slowly and with a flurry of blinks. Her irises were so dark they blended in to her pupils as she stared straight ahead for a few moments. Neither he nor Sariyah breathed the entire time, not that they needed to but it was usually habit. Her mouth slid down into a frown and her brows pulled together, he assumed the pain was catching up with her.

 

“Lucia?” Sariyah whispered hesitantly.

 

Her eyes drifted across dazedly, following the sound, but her head didn’t move. Her heart rate raised again as Sariyah entered her field of vision.

 

“How’re you feeling, honey?”

 

A long pause before she managed to find words, “It hurts.” Lucia croaked quietly.

 

Sariyah jumped up, “I’ll get Dr Farris.” she said.

 

“Thank you.” Elijah muttered gratefully without looking away from Lucia’s face, her eyes switched slowly to gaze at him blankly. “Dr Farris said you might feel nauseas or dizzy or… lots of things really…” She didn’t respond so he added, “Do you feel… sick?” and crept closer to her.

 

“I… don’t think so.” She spoke slowly but clearly which Elijah was incredibly grateful for. “Just a bit… confused.”

 

“Is there anything I can do?” He asked carefully.

 

“Um… which hospital am I in?”

 

“You’re not in a hospital, you’re in our private wing.”

 

“A private… wing?”

 

“Yes, you might not have seen it before given that it doesn’t get used much.”

 

“Why doesn’t it get used?”

 

“Well, there aren’t many humans in the house.”

 

Lucia didn’t answer but her expression said it all, she hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.

 

Elijah wasn’t sure where to go from there, so he simply asked, “You okay?” lamely.

 

“Y-yeah…” Her answer seemed more reflexive than he would have liked. Finally she added, “Where’s my family?” with a slow drag of her eyes from Elijah to the opposite side of her bed where Sariyah’s empty chair sat.

 

A long and awkward pause sat between them. Either she didn’t remember her family selling her, or she believed they would actually come and visit after doing so… Elijah wasn’t sure which was more heartbreaking.

 

“Lucia, do you know who I am?” He asked slowly.

 

“Oh, um… I’m sure I do…” Her cheeks gained a hint of colour as she struggled to think, “I just can’t seem to place your name, that’s all…”she couldn’t hold his gaze.

 

“Do you know how we know each other?” He tried instead.

 

She was able to answer rather quickly, “You’re my friend?” but his face must have betrayed him because she seemed to be able to tell almost instantly that wasn’t the million dollar answer.

 

“We’re engaged, Lucia.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Sariyah returned with Dr Farris in tow.

 

“Lucia, do you know who that is?” He asked softly, pointing at Sariyah.

 

The pair paused at the end of the bed with matching expressions of apprehension.

 

“I… I don’t know her name but…”

 

“Ah.” Dr Farris sighed. “Well, I did include amnesia in the list of symptoms… This could be temporary, though!”

 

“Could be?” Elijah blurted sharply.

 

“Lucia, please be completely honest with us,” Sariyah said slowly, “no need to spare our feelings trying to be polite, but what do you genuinely recognise of where you are and who we are?”

 

“I’m… so sorry... I have no idea who you are, any of you. I don’t know where I am or why. I don’t know why my body feels like it’s been run through a pasta machine and...” He r eyes began to mist up and her mouth trembled around the words she attempted to squeak out, “And it hurts so much.”

 

“Morphine.” Dr Farris ticked his finger in the air and scurried over to her IV, pulling a small glass bottle and a syringe from his white coat pocket. “Let’s get you some delicious morphine.”

 

“Thank you.” She whispered, tears rolling down both cheeks.

 

Sariyah took her hand and whispered comforting words, “While that kicks in we can talk you through what’s happened, does that sound good, sweetie?”

 

“Mm.” Lucia managed with eyes squeezed shut and lips tight. She took a deep sniff and opened them back up. “That would be great.”

 

“You took an awful tumble down the stairs in the main entrance.” Sariyah began, “Elijah found you.” she nodded in his direction and he took that as his cue to jump in,

 

“I found you at the bottom unconscious.” he said quietly.

 

“By the way, Elijah is your fiance and this is his family’s home.” Sariyah added helpfully, “You’ve been living here since you became engaged.”

 

Lucia’s eyes slid over Elijah fully this time, slowly, sizing him up. Then she blushed and he felt a wave of heat run through his body, she had never looked so cute before. The heart monitor betrayed her with increased beeping and her rosy cheeks darkened to a deep burgundy.

 

“I’m his cousin and the one who spends most of the day with you. We like ordering pizza and gossiping!” Sariyah added, helpfully drawing the attention back to herself and away from Lucia’s embarrassment.

 

“I’m not a great fan of either of those things.” Elijah chuckled awkwardly.

 

“Well, Lucia also loves reading and so do you, so you have that in common.” Sariyah said through gritted teeth, that way your mother spoke to you when she was trying to tell you something private in front of guests.

 

“Anyway, your body is horribly bruised and swollen but you have no fractures and no bleeding in the brain which is wonderful!” Dr Farris interjected.

 

“I don’t feel wonderful.” Lucia whispered with a pout.

 

“Yes, you’ll need a lot of rest and a lot of pain-relief before you feel anywhere near human. And that’s coming from someone who isn’t!” He chuckled to himself. “I’ll need to do another full examination with you now that you’re awake but for the moment I’ll let your beloved betrothed continue to make you feel more comfortable in this unknown world you’ve woken up in.” His blasé attitude was not infectious. “I’ll give you an hour and Julie will monitor you while I’m gone.” He bobbed his head and strode out, much to Elijah’s horror.

 

His head swung back and forth between Lucia and the door as he adjusted himself in his chair awkwardly a few times. He needed to do something, he just wasn’t sure what would be appropriate.

 

Sariyah mercifully broke the silence, “Is there anything we can do for you, honey?” she asked, “Maybe some water? Food?”

 

“Water, please.”

 

“I’ll go get a jug from the kitchen.” Sariyah nodded at Elijah with wide eyes and high brows, she was trying to hint at something. Except now he was fairly sure he knew what. He nodded back, it seemed they had both had the exact same thought. This was his chance, a chance to make a new and fresh impression.

 

Left alone with his fiancee, Elijah found himself simply staring at her and twiddling his thumbs. Her eyes were half-lidded and her lips turned down in a pouting frown but more than anything she appeared exhausted.

 

“I’m so sorry this has happened to you.” He whispered.

 

She gave him a confused look but didn’t reply, he assumed she was already slipping into sleep or at the very least attempting to conserve what energy she did have. He watched her, unblinking, unable to tear his eyes away.

 

Sariyah returned with the jug, poured a small plastic tumbler out and aided Lucia in drinking it. The girl sipped at the water cautiously, unable to move her head or neck.

 

With her mouth suitably hydrated she managed to whisper, “Could you help me get my arms out please? I’m getting hot under here.”

 

Sariyah hurried forward and peeled back the tightly tucked sterilised sheets to reveal Lucia’s chest and arms covered in a hospital gown. Lucia blinked down at what she could see of her attire with obvious confusion.

 

“I don’t remember putting this on…” She mumbled.

 

Nurse Julie intercepted that particular comment, “Ah, we had to cut off her clothes for the scans… Dr Varnava didn’t want to move her too much.” she explained.

 

“We’ll buy you new clothes, I promise.” Sariyah said with a kind wink.

 

“It’s okay,” Lucia muttered, “I don’t remember what I was wearing anyway.” she laughed a little but quickly halted with a wince after jostling her neck.

 

“You okay?” Elijah asked quickly.

 

“Yeah.” She grunted.

 

Sariyah clapped her hands together, “I know something that’ll cheer you up,” she announced, “why don’t we get your ring back on?”

 

“My ring?” Lucia asked with dark brows pulled together.

 

“Your engagement ring, silly!” She explained cheerfully, “If you have to wear a dreary hospital gown you can at least accessorise!” she gave Elijah a pushy look with brows raised.

 

“Would you mind bringing it from my suite?” Elijah asked.

 

“Why me?”

 

“I’d rather not leave Lucia’s side so soon after her fall.” He was genuinely concerned for her but he laid the sound of his worry extra thick over his voice, he couldn’t explain in front of Lucia and Nurse Julie that he feared someone might try to kill her while he’s gone. “Please could you just grab it from my room?”

 

Sariyah stood with a huff, “Depends where I have to dig to find it,” she put her hands on her hips, “I’m not going in your panty drawer!”

 

“It’s in my bedside table, first drawer.”

 

“Fine, back in two.” She gave him a questioning look and he hoped the one he offered in return conveyed the message of ‘later’. She left at human pace, striding out with head held high.

 

Lucia sniffed and bit her lip gently before mumbling, “Are my family coming?”

 

A long and ever-growing awkward pause sat between them until Elijah was finally able to drag some words from his mouth, “I don’t think so,” he said quietly, adding, “I’m sorry.” with a wince.

 

Lucia’s face was a heart-breaking combination of confusion and hurt but at least she didn’t ask any more questions. Elijah knew he did not have the necessary skill in tact to explain her family’s recent… decisions… At least not without heavily incriminating himself along with them.

 

Instead, he kept his mouth shut and tried his best not to look guilty.


	8. Lucia

Green eyes, dark hair with a soft natural curl to it, chiselled face and small round ears. And he was staring at her so intently she wished she had the energy to lift her blanket to cover her face. So much attention from a stranger was unsettling.

 

Except he wasn’t a stranger, was he?

 

Elijah.

 

This man had announced himself as her fiancé despite her inability to remember having ever met him. She had been utterly mortified when he asked if she remembered him and had said she did in an attempt to save his feelings being hurt. Now Lucia didn’t know what to say, she had already embarrassed herself and while she had a long list of questions she’d like the answer to, she was also exhausted. So much information was trying to cram it’s way into her head which was already throbbing from the tumble she had apparently taken.

 

Overwhelmed was the best word she could think of to describe how she felt.

 

The morphine helped but only to dull the pain, she couldn’t think of a time before that moment when she had ever been able to even conceive of the amount of pain she had awoken with. It didn’t stop the endless torrent of questions knocking around inside of her skull that she didn’t even have the energy to ask. Where was her family? Why had he not explained where they were? How much time had she lost from her memory? Where was she exactly?

 

She blinked slowly, the drugs were making her drowsy.

 

The woman, Sariyah, returned with a small velvet box she could only assume held her engagement ring. She pulled back the lid slowly to present the sparkling ring, holding it up to her eye line for a few moments before pulling it out and handing it to Elijah.

 

“It belonged to my grandmother, it’s been in our family for generations.” He said quietly.

 

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered, watching it twinkle in the light as he held it up for her.

 

“May I?” He asked, pointing to her left hand.

 

She attempted to nod instinctively and quickly regretted it, a sharp shot of pain ran up her neck and round her ears. Her eyes prickled but she held herself together with a few slow breaths.

 

He took her hand carefully in his own and slid the ring onto her fourth finger, it fit surprisingly well.

 

Time seemingly stopped for a brief pause as Lucia smiled up at him and he smiled down at her, his beautiful eyes gripping her and filling her with comfort and maybe even an ounce of… excitement? A pulse of hope as she dared to look forward to her life with this seemingly sweet and adoring man.

 

She dropped her eyes to the ring and admired it as he supported her fingers with his own but the moment he took his hand back her own fell to the bed with the unexpected weight of the jewels.

 

“It’s so heavy.” She mumbled.

 

“It’s real silver and diamonds with one big fat sapphire in the middle.” Sariyah explained helpfully and cheerfully.

 

“Oh.” Lucia suddenly felt very self-conscious of the fact that she had never worn any piece of jewellery that could be described as ‘real’ anything. Did they know what kind of background she came from? Had she confided in her fiancé of the struggle she had faced growing up trying to stay fed and warm? Of working multiple jobs since she was old enough to apply to help keep her family afloat?

 

There was an unwanted warmth creeping over her cheeks and round her ears. Neither of them acknowledged it and Lucia continued to stare at the ring in awe, it was stunning. It was hers.

 

“Have you explained our non-human situation yet?” Sariyah asked quietly through gritted teeth, Lucia assumed she was speaking to Elijah as she hadn’t a clue what that question meant. She kept her eyes down and her mouth shut.

 

It wasn’t the first time they had mentioned something about being human or someone being not human but she knew she was probably misconstruing their words due to the bump she had taken. Their conversation made no sense to her because her brain had taken a jumbling with the tumbling.

 

Even when Elijah replied she continued to ignore them, “No, I haven’t.” He said, also restraining his voice.

 

If she needed to understand they could explain to her later when she wasn’t feeling as though she had been stuffed inside of a washing machine and put on the highest spin cycle. She decided that for now whatever they were talking about was none of her business.

 

As it was, the drowsiness of the drug layered over the fatigue from her sore muscles was enough to have her eyes pulling down heavily. She desperately resisted the urge to sleep but did allow her head to fall back fully against the pillows again, even holding it up to look at the ring had been exhausting. She fought valiantly against the drooping of her eyes but for every battle she won she would lose for a few more seconds.

 

“Sleep, you need it.” Elijah said gently.

 

She attempted to smile but couldn’t tell how noticeable it was, she hoped he knew she was grateful.

 

The nurse with the blonde bob popped her head into view, “Dr Farris made a note on her chart that she could have these tablets after five if she wants them.” she said, holding out a minuscule paper cup. “They’ll help relax her muscles as she sleeps.”

 

Elijah took it from her with a nod and she scurried away again.

 

“Would you like them?”

 

“Please.” Lucia whispered.

 

He leant forward, placing one hand behind her head incredibly gently and tipping the contents of the pot past her parted lips. Two bitter tablets landed on her tongue.The hand that had been holding the pot flashed away like lightning and returned to her mouth with the plastic cup, pouring the water in and washing the medicine down her throat smoothly. After putting down the second cup he stayed by her side, his hand behind her head now rubbing circles into her neck.

 

The combination of her already exhausted body, plus the pills and now his strong hand massaging just beneath the base of her skull didn’t so much as lull her to sleep as it did drag her, she couldn’t have clung to consciousness with an espresso and a foghorn.

 

~

 

Nothing had changed in the room when she awoke. The man was at her side still, the handsome one, she had already forgotten his name while she dozed. As if it wasn’t mortifying enough to forget your fiancé once, now she would have to ask him what his name was, as she wore his dead grandmother’s ring, and laid in a bed in his family’s house.

 

“Elijah, look, she’s awake!”

 

Bingo. Thank god for beautiful braided lady, whose name she had also forgotten.

 

“Hey, sweetie.” The woman cooed. “How’re you feeling?”

 

“Sleepy. Sore. Hungry.” She mumbled but quickly realised how snotty she sounded and added, “Sorry.” with a sheepish expression.

 

“You have nothing to apologise for, my love.” Beautiful braided lady said kindly, stroking a couple of fingers along Lucia’s hairline to brush away stray curly hairs hanging in her face, “I’ll go get you something to eat, while I’m gone try and have some more water for me.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

The woman gave Elijah a pointed look that Lucia didn’t understand and left.

 

“Should I… Would you like…” Elijah fumbled, picking up the jug and filling the cup with water, “I can bring it to your mouth?”

 

“Please.” Lucia croaked. “I’m scared to move my arms in case I jostle my back.”

 

“Of course.”

 

He brought the cup up and carefully pressed in against her lips with a slight tilt, she drank every drop. It was as if her body hadn’t noticed how dehydrated it was until it was reminded what liquid felt like.

 

“Mmm.” She licked her lips and rubbed them together, it only added a slight layer of moisture to her cracked lips but it helped. “Thank you.”

 

“Do you remember anything?” He blurted, “I mean, did sleeping help at all?”

 

She wanted to tell him she did, his face was so clouded with worry it made her heart hurt, but instead she just said, “I’m sorry.” and dropped her eyes to her hands.

 

“It’s not your fault.” He reassured her, “I’m sorry this has happened to you.”

 

Why was he so sweet and polite? Where had she found a man like this? He had a gentleman’s aura, like a British actor in a period drama. There had to be something wrong with him, this was real life.

 

She pinched her lips together before replying, “I’m sorry that I don’t recognise you, I can’t imagine how that feels for you…”

 

He reached out, stroking her head with the tenderest of touches. It was the first time he had touched her without reason to since she had woken the first time in the ward. It felt good, soothing and affectionate. She could picture herself curled up with him, sitting in his lap, resting her head on his chest. He had a softness that radiated from him.

 

“I’m just so glad you woke up, that’s so much more important than you remembering me.” He pulled his hand back as he spoke and she felt a wave of disappointment rush from her toes to her ears, he didn’t appear to notice as he continued, “While you were asleep Dr Farris came back to do your check-up, he said your vitals were fine but he still wanted to do a full examination…”

 

“Okay.” She nodded out of instinct and winced instantly, her eyes prickling and her fists clenching the sheets. Sharp stabbing pain jabbed along her spine for a few seconds until she could relax her body back into the pillows.

 

Elijah had jumped up to lean over her but there was nothing he could do to help, she huffed out a long breath and gave him a weak smile. She was okay, she was getting there.

 

“Do you feel up to it?” He asked and for a moment she had forgotten what he was referring to, the pain rendering her unable to remember anything before it for a moment. The examination. Dr Farris. That was it.

 

She tried to give a determined look, “Mm. I could do with some more pain relief too though…”

 

Elijah nodded, stepped back and leant his head out of the blue curtain surrounding them, “Julie, could you fetch Dr Farris?” he called.

 

“Yes, sir.” A high-pitched voice replied, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps drawing away from them.


End file.
